Telecommunications wholesaler and franchisor, Telcoinabox has for the first time been recognised as one of the best places to work in Australia, coming in at 32nd in a recent BRW survey.

BRW's Best Places to Work in Australia 2011 survey lists the top 50 employers in the country, based on how happy and productive their staff are.

Telcoinabox is the only telecommunications company listed and was also ranked 5th on the 'pride' metric, where employees are proud to tell people where they work.

"We work in a highly competitive industry yet despite the business challenges we have always put our people first. They are the drivers of the company at the end of the day," said CEO Telcoinabox Australia, Paul Line.

The company was recognised for its "superstar" employee of the month program, giving employees their birthdays off, a $5000 budget per employee for external training and 12 weeks paid maternity leave.

"We do a number of things to keep our people happy, engaged and hopefully excited about coming to work, including Friday afternoon drinks and nibbles and we also celebrate Australia Day, Easter, Halloween and the Melbourne Cup with an office party, where we provide lunch and encourage dress ups to get into the theme of the day and raise money for charity," Lisa Bailey, HR and learning  manager at Telcoinabox told Franchising.

There is also a ping pong table, foosball table, playstation and magazines in the tea room, as well as an onsite creche.

Other companies to make the list include Google, Deloitte's and Red Balloon.